Methanol → Robenacoxib

N-(2,3,5,6-tetrafluorophenyl)-5-ethyloxindole (72.67 g; 0.235 mol, is slurried in water containing a little methanol (10% v/v; 253 ml), and sodium hydroxide solution (50 wt %; 16.1 ml) is added. The mixture is stirred at 80-85° for 2-4 hours, then cooled to ambient temperature. The reaction solution is partially concentrated under reduced pressure (25-30 mm). After removal of 50 ml of the solvent, the mixture is diluted with water (150 ml) and t-butyl methyl ether (250 ml). The cooled mixture is acidified to pH 6.5-7.0 with aqueous HCl (12.1 N; 19.5 ml), keeping the temperature at 0-5°. The aqueous layer is discarded and the organic layer is washed with water (250 ml). The organic layer is concentrated under reduced pressure (20-100 mm) while exchanging the solvent to toluene. After the more volatile components have been removed, the batch volume is adjusted to 400-450 ml. This mixture is warmed to 70°, clarified, concentrated to one-half volume, and cooled to 0°. After stirring at this temperature for 2 hours, the product is collected and is washed with toluene/heptane (10:90; 100 ml). The resulting solid is dried under reduced pressure at 50-60° for 4-8 hours to give 5-ethyl-2-(2′, 3′, 5′, 6′-tetrafluoroanilino)phenylacetic acid of Example 3.